Learn the English Phrases I CAN'T HELP MYSELF and HELP YOURSELF!

6,541 views ・ 2021-06-18

Bob's Short English Lessons


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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In this English lesson,
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I wanted to help you learn the English phrase
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I can't help myself.
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This is a phrase that we say
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when we can't resist doing something,
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when we just have to do something.
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Sometimes at work, people will bring yummy snacks to school.
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Maybe they'll bring cupcakes
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or some kind of cake or muffins or cookies,
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and they'll put them in the staff room,
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and then I just, I can't help myself.
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I have to take one and I have to eat it.
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I can't resist sweets sometimes.
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Usually what I try to do is not go in the room
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where someone has put yummy treats,
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because I can't help myself.
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I can't resist them.
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I usually take them and I eat them,
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usually one or two, sometimes three.
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If they're there all day, sometimes four.
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It's really bad, isn't it, but I can't help myself.
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The other phrase I wanted to teach you today
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is the phrase help yourself.
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When you say to someone, "Help yourself,"
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you mean that they can have something,
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and we use this a lot with food.
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In my previous example, if someone brings food to the school
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and puts it in the staff room,
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they might put a little note on the board in the staff room
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that says "Help yourself.
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I made some cookies last night.
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If you want one, just help yourself."
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This means that you can simply take a cookie
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if you want one.
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So to review, when I see snacks, I can't help myself
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and I usually eat one or two or three.
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Usually not four.
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Well, sometimes four, but I try not to,
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but I can't help myself.
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So when you say that you can't help yourself,
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it means you can't resist doing something.
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And then if you say to someone, "Help yourself,"
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we almost always use this with food.
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You can use it with other things as well,
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but it's most commonly heard
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when someone puts food out somewhere and says to people,
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"Hey, if you want some, help yourself."
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It means that you are permitted to take some food,
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if you want to have some.
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But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video.
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Let me get it out of my pocket here.
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This comment is from Gaurav, and Gaurav says,
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"Hello, teacher.
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Can you teach me how to play hockey, please, eh?"
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And Roland responds and says,
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"Or create a lesson about excuses for bad hockey playing,"
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and my response is this.
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"I haven't played hockey for many years.
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I still usually skate two or three times a year,
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but I haven't picked up a stick
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or put on hockey equipment for decades.
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I'm pretty sure I could still play, though, if I tried,
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but I would certainly be sore the next day."
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So thank you, Gaurav, for that comment.
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No, I have not played hockey for a very long time.
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Sorry, I have to get through the leaves here.
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It's like I'm in the jungle.
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When I was younger, when I lived in Quebec City,
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what I really enjoyed was they had outdoor hockey rinks.
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So I would go to the outdoor hockey rink,
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usually during the day, and I would skate a little bit.
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I worked in a restaurant.
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I had a night shift job,
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and so during the day I would skate and practice my hockey,
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and then with my friends here in Ontario, Canada, as well.
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By the way, I lived in Quebec for about nine or 10 months.
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That's what I was talking about.
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With my friends was around here,
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we used to play hockey quite a bit,
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but things have changed, though.
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The river and the creeks around here
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do not freeze as solid as they used to.
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They used to freeze quite solid,
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and then it would be safe to play hockey on them.
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But lately, the river doesn't always freeze over
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in the winter,
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and when it does, the ice isn't safe,
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and over there behind me,
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you can't see it, but way across the road,
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there's also a small creek,
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and it doesn't freeze very solid as well.
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We don't have good outdoor ice here.
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So when people ask me
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if global warming's actually happening,
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I usually tell them well, when I was a kid,
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we used to skate on the river,
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and now it barely ever freezes solid enough
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for us to do that,
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so something must be changing.
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Anyways, Bob the Canadian here.
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Hope you're having a good day.
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I'll see you in a couple of days
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with another short English lesson.
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Bye.
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